The History of Making Books and the Printing
Press
By: Brianna Dunn
3/23/12
Mr. Goldfarb
Introduction
Thousands of years ago people didn’t know what we might have today.
They wouldn’t have known we would have the printing press. They didn’t know,
because Johannes Gutenberg created it in 1455. People before Johannes
Gutenberg loved books. Their love for books began with Ancient Egyptians. This
was hard for them though, because books were long and hard processes. If the
Egyptians back then had the printing press they would be very grateful. Ancient
Egyptians loved to read but didn’t share the same ability for writing and printing
books. It was a long process, but they thought it was worth the reward of being
able to read. From clay tablets, papyrus scrolls, and parchment paper to the
printing press people have dedicated hours, days, and even many weeks to
making books.
How People Wrote and Organized Books
Today people write books using alphabets made up of
letters. However, writing did not always use letters. It started
thousands of years ago. Writing began mostly with pictures
and progressed to the alphabets we know today. Ancient
Egyptians had been the first to invent hieroglyphics.
Hieroglyphics was the Ancient Egyptian alphabet. It was
made up of symbols, pictures, and letters.
Ancient Egyptians loved to read around 3,600 B.C.
They liked it so much the leaders or pharaohs forced people
This is an example
to make them books. If they were lucky they got little pay
of an alphabet
made up of letters
otherwise they didn’t get paid. This was hard work back
then, because books were long and hard processes. The
pharaohs had many walls long filled with books.
Not a lot of people can find Ancient Egyptian writings, because Ancient
Egyptians wrote on parchment paper or papyrus scrolls. Parchment paper and
papyrus scrolls eventually turn into sand or dust. Ancient Egyptians didn’t have
any other kinds of paper that would last thousands of years.
Around 8,000 years ago the earliest writing was pictures, symbols, and
counting. Then about 5,000 years ago picture writing was invented in the city of
Mesopotamia, Iraq. The Sumerians first invented clay tablet writing.
Around 1,600 B.C. – 146 B.C. Ancient Greeks used an alphabet that
contained 24 letters. The Ancient Greeks were able to replace picture writing that
was created by Ancient Egyptians. They still wrote on papyrus scrolls and
parchment paper that was created by the Ancient Egyptians, though.
In the 6th century A.D. China was the first to develop wood blocks. Wood
blocks allowed people to carve wood then ink and press onto paper to print. The
news of wood blocking left China and Japan in the 1300s when people started
using wood blocking in Europe. Still China has been given credit for their
invention.
This is an example of a present-day library with a wall
filled with books
Roman libraries had tons
of walls long filled with books.
Not a lot of the books looked the
same though. Each book was
about different topics. There
were also different types of
printing. They could have been
made with wood blocking, they
could have contained
hieroglyphics, they could have
had picture writings in them, and
they could have been made
using the Greek alphabet, or the
more recent could have had
been printed on scrolls. The
more wealthy people could have
big libraries with walls filled with
books.
During the middle ages in Rome people had books made with wood cut
printing. This method was invented by the Chinese. Woodcuts were very small
and allowed a small sentence and a hand drawn picture next to it. This method
took a lot of time to use for making adult books, but very popular for children’s
books.
Books were long processes, but had many ways of being made. They all
looked different and didn’t get separated by what they were about. They were
separated by how big they were, how tall they were, what color they were, and
what language they were written in. Example: Roman, Latin, Ancient Greek, and
Egyptian hieroglyphics. It was hard to find books you wanted on a topic.
Hundreds of years later, Melville Dewey helped to change that. In one of
Americas first libraries Melville Dewey changed that with inventing the “Dewey
Decimal System”. The Dewey Decimal System helped change the separation of
books. Instead of how tall they were they were separated by what they’re about.
There’s fiction, nonfiction, historical fiction, and many other sections in a library.
Next time you’re in the library check out the Dewey Decimal System.
What Types of Books Were There
Long ago there was no reading or writing. People wanted to communicate.
Johannes Gutenberg wanted to change that. In 1455 Johannes Gutenberg
changed that by inventing the printing press. Johannes Gutenberg wasn’t always
alive though, before Gutenberg, people wanted to save stories and communicate
some of the first people who wanted to do that were Ancient Egyptians.
Some of the first writings from Ancient Egyptians were from as far as the
first dynasty, about 3,100 B.C. The scientists that have studied Ancient Egyptians
say that the Egyptian alphabet formed over night. They taught the alphabet by
carving it into walls and pointing to each letter.
There are no Ancient Egyptian dictionaries or a lot of books that can be
translated in English. This is, because their paper eventually grew old and turned
to sand or dust. Back then Ancient Egyptians had to carve lightly or else it would
tear or rip. Depending on how books were binded they would be called different
names of binding. One type and the most popular was the “butterfly bind”. Most
books today are used with the butterfly bind.
People might say that since there aren’t a lot of books going back to
Ancient Egyptians, that Ancient Egyptians weren’t as smart. Actually they wrote a
lot, but they didn’t have paper that they could use to last thousands of years. The
paper they wrote on was always very delicate. Today if we took all of the books
they had then there would be thousands of adult books.
What were some libraries
Ancient Egyptians delighted in the few
books they had many books, but not a lot of
books they liked as much as others. They
appreciated the few books they liked. They
didn’t like some because they weren’t as good
or they might have even been too long. Most
Ancient Egyptian scribes were up to 50ft. long
and contained 700 hieroglyphics. For the books
This is an example of Ancient Egyptian
hieroglyphics
they did like they carved “Medicine of the Soul”
on the doors of libraries.
In Rome, in the year 1,500 B.C. the Roman
Empire inspired the people to build some libraries
around it. The Roman Empire had some enemies
though. Soon the Roman Empire came to a fall. The
people of Rome no longer wanted the libraries they
just built. The libraries were soon destroyed by the
people of Rome. The people of Rome also stopped
The Roman Empire after it was
destroyed by its enemies
learning and going to school. Education wasn’t as important to them as the
Roman Empire.
Soon after, Monks started to copy hundreds of books. They did this in the
dark with quill pens. Then some other people found out and wanted to copy also.
They weren’t the same though, because they were messier and they didn’t have
the same value. Other people didn’t copy, because priests said that was
unchristian to do. The Dark Age finally ended, after 500 years. Everyone was
very eager to learn and go to school.
One of the first libraries was the Alexandria library. It was obviously in
Alexandria. It was standing for 900 years with a total of 700,000 books. Today
700,000 of the books they wrote back then would be a total of 100,000 adult
books.
Across the world in North America
thousands of years later, today we have the
library of congress. The library of congress is
located in Washington D.C., its America’s
national library. The original library of
congress was destroyed in the war of 1812,
when the British burned the capitol building to
This is a painting of what people
the ground. Then the people decided to rebuild
think our Library of Congresslooked
it and have a bigger library called “The Library
like before the War of 1812
of Congress”. When Thomas Jefferson became
president he made a law that every book that was printed another copy had to be
sent to the library of congress. This way the library grew bigger and bigger and
soon was restored.
Andrew Carnegie
As a young boy Andrew Carnegie never had
any neighborhood public libraries. There was only a
private library owned by the mayor down the street.
The mayor let children around his neighborhood use
the library, but only on Saturdays. Andrew was there
every Saturday. When Andrew Carnegie grew up he
had lots of money. He donated a lot of his money to
building public libraries around the world. He was
well known and hundreds of kids were able to read more
books, because of him.
When Were Books Created
Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1455, but some
scientists say the movable type printing press has been around for years.
The scientist who might have invented the printing press was named Pi
Sheng. Pi Sheng mixed glue and clay together then dipped each letter in. He
called this his batter. Some of the first said to be printing presses were invented
around the tang dynasty.
Before people think Pi Sheng invented the movable type, people wrote on
bone shells, wood, and silk. These types were around even before the 2 nd
century B.C. Pressing characters has been around for 4 centuries. The people
back then even had books on how to type.
In the 6th century A.D. the Chinese and Japanese engraved or carved
words or images into wood blocks. After that they inked them and pressed their
stories onto paper.
Children’s books weren’t always popular. Children’s books became
popular around 1803, before that they weren’t popular. In 1803 the first children’s
bookstore opened. More and more people began reading children’s books. Soon
adults began reading only children’s books. The first children’s bookstore opened
in Salisbury, Connecticut.
Who invented the printing press
Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but before he could
invent the printing press he had to have the materials. One of the materials was
paper. Paper was invented in China by a scientist named Ts’ai Lun in 1,500 A.D.
He was inspired by tree bark, fishing nets, and old rags.
Another material he needed was characters
to press for typing. Johannes Gutenberg tried many
different styles. He arranged the letters by putting
them around common neighboring letters, so it
would be faster to type.
Gutenberg grew up in Strasburg, Germany.
After he finished his first demo of the movable type
printing press he moved to Mainz, Germany. He also
left, because of news of war. He soon moved back
to Strasbourg, Germany. While he was there he
made a contract with 4 other men in1443. The other
This is an example of a
printing press similar to the
one Gutenberg may have
used.
men invested a lot of money into Gutenberg’s invention. The contract read that if
any of the five men died before the contract ended the other men couldn’t find
anyone else to join the contract. Before the men could start working, one of the
men died. The man had two brothers. They wanted to join the contract with the
men. The contract had stated that since the man died they couldn’t find anyone
else to join. Gutenberg refused to let the two brothers join. The brothers didn’t
like this, and took the case to court. The judge ruled in favor of Gutenberg.
Not too much long after 3 of the men died before the contract ended. It
was only Gutenberg and a man named Fuss. Fuss had invested a lot of money in
Gutenberg. He demanded his money back as soon as, not any longer as the
exact date the contract ended. The contract ended on October 3, 1455.
Gutenberg knew he would finish by then and would be able to pay back the man.
The date began to get closer and Gutenberg was starting to doubt. Then on
October 2, 1455 Gutenberg sent out the bible he printed with his printing press. It
was sent out the day before the contract ended. The next day reared the corner
and the money for the bible hadn’t arrived, soon Fuss demanded the money.
Gutenberg only needed one more day. He didn’t have enough time and Fuss got
all of the money and credit for his invention. Gutenberg never got anything for his
invention while he was alive.
Gutenberg printed in Latin, because young school boys learned in Latin.
Young boys learned and read in Latin because it was very popular. Gutenberg
printed in a specific type of Latin called Gothic book script, Latin. That type of
Latin was most popular to use for printing. When Gutenberg was a boy he read in
Latin.
How did Gutenberg’s invention change our lives
In China people were demanded to work hard to create what we call it
today the printing press. This was expected, because the Chinese
were the first to invent the method of wood blocking. It was not
expected by a lot of people that the printing press would be
invented in Germany.
In Europe before they had the printing press, churches would copy books
by hand so that everyone could read the same books. Soon Europe was the last
place to get the printing press. Without the printing press, Europe was making
more books than people across the globe with the printing press. They might not
have needed the printing press, but now the printing press is very helpful.
One of Gutenberg’s goals for the printing press was to replace workers
and do their jobs better. Workers would take very long times to print and set up
the printing press. One of Gutenberg’s printing presses was called the movable
type. It was a well known method that spread very quickly. It was well known
because people could pick it up and move places with it. Before the printing
press people would use wood blocks to print. They would also just use their own
hand writing to make books. The printing press helps in many ways one way is
that, it makes books so people can read them and learn more about Earth and
the animals that live on it.
Conclusion
I realize that Gutenberg should be honored today, but not a lot of people
know who he is. That might not have been like that if Gutenberg got credit for the
printing press in 1455. Instead Gutenberg got no credit or
money for his invention. Before Gutenberg people loved
books and they carried their passion threw many centuries. It
started from clay tablets, and scrolls to the printing press as
we know today. People before the printing press had
dedicated hours, days, and many weeks to making and
writing books. We should be very grateful for the printing
press and being able to have books.
This is a picture of what
Johannes Gutenberg
would have looked like
Work cited
Heinrichs, Ann. The Printing Press. New York: Franklin Watts a scholastic Inc,
2005
McCabe Anderson, Sybil. How Printing Helps Us. Chicago: Benefic press, 1964
Rees, Fran. Johannes Gutenberg: Inventor of the Printing Press. Minneapolis,
Minnesota: Compass Point Books, 2006.
Feinstein, Stephen. Johannes Gutenberg: the printer who gave words. Berkley
Heights, New Jersey: Enslow Publishers Inc, 2008
Knowlton, Jack. Books and Libraries. U.S: Harper Collins Publisher, 1999.
Brookfield, Karen. Book. New York: A Dorling Kindersley Book, 1993.
Scholastic Voyages of Discovery. The History of making books. New York:
Scholastic Voyages of Discovery, 1995
Pictures Work Cited
The printing press
http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/press.html
Johannes Gutenberg
http://www.picsearch.com/pictures/Celebrities/Inventors/Inventors%202/Johann%20Gute
nberg.html
Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics
http://www.picsearch.com/index.cgi?q=egyptian+hieroglyphics&width=1423
The library of congress
http://www.picsearch.com/index.cgi?q=the+library+of+congress&width=1423
The Roman Empire
http://www.picsearch.com/index.cgi?q=the+roman+empire&width=1423
The alphabet
http://www.picsearch.com/index.cgi?q=the+alphabet&width=1003
Walls filled with books
http://www.picsearch.com/index.cgi?q=tons+of+walls+long+filled+with+books&width=10
03
Andrew Carnegie
http://www.picsearch.com/index.cgi?q=Andrew+Carnegie&width=1003